Meeting Recap - April 4, 2017
Mike Neeley opened the meeting with the pledge and an invocation.
Bev Aplikowski introduced Tom Pastor, a new chiropractor in New Brighton. Jason Slama introduced Ed James, a mental health counselor, visiting us for the second time.
Cindy Carlson thanked everyone who made the Gold Plate Dinner Gala such a big success. Cindy said that she should have the results of the fundraiser at next week’s meeting.
Nils Friberg presented Jason Slama with a Paul Harris Fellowship, a new member who has been involved in many club activities and has already become involved in the leadership of our club. You are a rising star Jason, and you are very deserving of the Paul Harris Fellow Award. See photo above.
Dave Hoel reminded us that we need all hands on deck for stuffing the Easter Eggs this Sunday, April 9th, 11:00AM at the Exchange. Many hands make light work.
Dave Hoel has also had 5 new signs made for the Egg Hunt, so everyone in New Brighton/Mounds View should be aware of the event.
Beverly Aplikowski celebrated a birthday yesterday, and there was no birthday hat in sight as the club sang happy birthday to her.
Bob Barmore attended his father’s 95th birthday recently. Although his dad has Alzheimer’s disease, he was instantly able to recognize a very old photo of his father and grandfather.
John Risdall reported that his new medications are helping and he hopes to be able to drive again soon.
Our speaker today was Bob Reif, a fifteen year veteran of the New Brighton Fire Department. Bob was here to talk to us about the Fire Department and fire safety. Bob was an English teacher at Spring Lake Park until his retirement three years ago. He also works with Blaine/Spring Lake Park/Mounds View Fire Department and is a Firefighter Examiner as well as a Fire and Life Safety Educator. Bob said that the New Brighton Fire Department is a “paid on call” department, which differs from a volunteer department in that all of the firefighters undergo the same training as those in a full time fire department. New Brighton is a bit unique in that 12-15 of its police officers are cross-trained as firefighters. New Brighton is also somewhat unique in that is permits city employees to be firefighters. These policies help the department to respond more quickly and effectively to fire calls, and New Brighton’s relatively small size helps to keep the average response time to a very low 4 minutes 20 seconds. Bob noted that response time is critical since fires double in size every 30 seconds. Last year the department responded to 311 calls, which was slightly above average but much lower than when Bob started with the department.
Bob is part of New Brighton’s move toward public education to improve fire prevention. Much of Bob’s time is spent talking to groups like ours about smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and fire prevention. Bob suggested that we test every smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector (use a broom handle) monthly, change batteries annually, and replace detectors at ten year intervals since the sensors degrade with age. He noted that our sense of smell is inactive while sleeping, so you can’t rely on your nose to wake you from a fire. Also be aware that all the stuff we accumulate in our garages, basements and rafters can become fuel in the event of a fire. Bob recommended at least two fire extinguishers in the home – one easily accessible in the kitchen and one along the escape route out of the house.
Bob was asked about the hidden hazards for firefighters and he listed back injury, on the job heart attacks and cancer as the big three. Bob elaborated that smoke and particulate by products of combustion are a big cancer risk and contamination of their firefighting gear is managed with “extricators” that remove the contaminants. John, Bob and Garry are shown below.
